Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Doesn't quite have the same ring as Sleepless in Seattle, but now that we have our new king size bed, we've been sleeping great!

We have three weeks in the books and we're still loving it! Thanks to all our friends on Skype, we feel just down the street from you...a really loooong street, but close none the less!

As you may have heard, the weather here in Western Washington has been pretty rough. Almost the entire news coverage out here for the past few days has been on the 'massive' snow storm that has arrived and how the Seattlites are freaking out about a few snow flakes. Yesterday we had about 3 inches of snow and damn near every school in the county was closed. Seriously? 3 inches? In Minnesota when you get 12 inches it's not even a guarantee you get the day off of school! You hear on the news, "The driving conditions are treacherous out there! Make sure to stock up on household necessities and stay inside." My reaction? 'Kids, we're going downtown!'

While all the saps we're hunkered down in their houses, I took the girls to the Seattle Aquarium just behind Pikes Market. The four of us made up about half of the people there. I loved it! We got special treatment because the aquarium was so slow and the volunteers pulled out all sorts of starfish for the girls to pet. Of course I named every starfish Patrick and said 'Hey Patrick, where's SpongeBob?' I was the only person who laughed, but it got funnier each time I did it. The girls loved the finding clown fish and dressing up in scuba diving gear.

When we got home we played in the 'piles' of snow we had in our front yard and erected a snowman. (erected...funny).

Perhaps today we can make another snowman, this time slightly larger than the Yoda sized one from yesterday.

Today we got another 4 inches of snow and again school was canceled. This morning to ventured out to the gym (which is only half a mile from our house) and we again had the place to ourselves. The girls played in the childcare room while I wailed on my pecks and abs. It was glorious.

The Roses love playing around the new house and have claimed the guest bedroom as their nursery for their babies. They spend hours feeding, burping, and changing the diapers of their dozens of children all in the name of fun. Taking care of a dozen babies to me is more in line with Dante's seventh layer of hell, but to each their own.

Tip of the Day - If you drive a front wheel drive car, it is of no help to put chains on your rear tires. Seriously people, it's not rocket science...

Monday, January 9, 2012

After a 10 day hiatus of being off the grid, the Schmidt's have been reconnected to the universe! Now I'm sure you're all wondering about the move so I'll give you some of the highlights:

My mom and I drove out here two weeks ago and had a wonderful time. With the exception of a few snow flurries through the Rocky Mountains, the drive was good. It's a bit scary when your driving on slippery roads down a mountain and there are signs warning the cars to watch out for trucks tipping over.

The girls arrived safely on Saturday. They enjoyed the take off and the landing, but the three hours in the middle were a bit boring. Thankfully, Santa brought the girls an iPad for Christmas, so 'Angra Burds' logged in some serious hours.﻿

The neighbors introduced themselves right after we moved in. We live next door to a real nice couple with two girls, a 13 year old and an 11 year old. They already offered to assist us in any babysitting needs and that made for one happy Bo!

Nana decorated our house beautifully! We now have a real bedroom set with a king size bed. For the first time in our marriage I can sleep without Alicia crawling all over me. I used to think it was because I was irresistible, but it turns out I'm just too big for a queen size bed.

Nana, Papa and our family went for a hike on the Rattlesnake Trail. When I asked a realtor if they had any snakes in the area, she assured me the only kind they had were gardeners. After our hike, my mom did some research and discovered we do in fact have Western Rattlers. I guess that might not have been the best place to bring a bunch of curious kids...

After her three week vacation, Alicia went back to work this morning. Alicia must really like it out here, because for the first time a while, she was bummed about going back to work. Usually I piss her off real properlike and she's excited to get away from me after more than 3 days. She'll do great out here, and she knows it!

Anya and Caitlin will be attending pre-school a mile or two from our house. Anya started today and goes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. KK will be going Tuesday and Thursday. Both the girls are excited about school. Reegan is happy that we now have cable and can keep up to date on all the new Dora episodes.

I was asked to play volleyball tonight at an open gym. Alicia's boss has a daughter who played ball in college and she asked me to join them. I'm stoked! I wasn't planning on doing anything fun outside the house for a while! Hopefully I won't suck it up.

We are now on Skype if you care to chat it up with us. My email is Boschmidt2003@yahoo.com and we usually have the iPad around if you want to get a hold of us.

We are loving our new home and are excited to continue to explore our new surroundings!

Tip of the Day: If you move into a house owned by Indians (dot, not feather), just accept your house will smell like curry for several weeks.